Chicago Cubs: Insider says team will part ways with popular veteran

The Chicago Cubs got a good deal when they signed Japanese All-Star Shota Imanaga. Through three years of service, the southpaw starting pitcher logged almost 500 innings and posted a record of 35-21 with an ERA of 3.45 for about $44.5 million total.

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That’s a relative steal by today’s payroll standards.

But in the case of Imanaga, a look beyond the cold, cumulative stats fails to paint a picture of a dependable starting pitcher taking up a prominent rotation spot on a team in “win now” mode.

Imanaga gave up a lot of home runs—93 over his run in Chicago. The last two seasons were especially rough in that area, accounting for 66 long balls in 319 innings. His penchant for giving up home runs became a hobbling disadvantage baked into all of his starts. His FIP was nearly a run higher than his ERA, closing in on the 5.00 range.

In the second half of the 2025 season, Imanaga fell out of manager Craig Counsell’s circle of trust and never found his way back. The Cubs passed him over for his second start in last year’s playoffs and then turned down his option in the offseason before eventually settling on a one-year qualifying offer to keep him in Chicago.

Cubs expected to move on from Imanaga

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Now he faces free agency once again and, this time, the Cubs are expected to let the 33-year-old walk.

On a recent edition of the North Side Territory podcast, veteran MLB insider Patrick Mooney laid out the reasons why the Cubs and Imanaga will—and should—part ways.

“Watching Imanaga’s time with the Cubs, it’s just clear they don’t trust him to that level,” Mooney said. “They really respect his competitiveness, his adaptability. His performance was very good-to-great over most of the past three seasons. It just didn’t quite build to that next level when he was a Cy Young Award contender in the first half of his rookie year.

“I think if you’re Shota…I imagine that you just might want a change of scenery, work with a different team, a different group. Maybe—as much as he loved Wrigley Field—a different ballpark, you know, if you’re a fly ball pitcher. We saw how it played in the summer.”

The writing’s been on the wall

According to Mooney, the writing has been on the wall that the Cubs just aren’t interested in bringing Imanaga back.

“When they don’t use you in a playoff game,” Mooney added, “When they don’t pick up the three-year option in your contract. When they give you the qualifying offer…It just seemed like the Cubs seemed ready to move on.”

And, in this case, moving on may be for the best. With the money coming off the books this offseason—Imanaga’s $22 million being part of it—the Cubs are expected to dive deep into the free agent market in search of reliable top-tier pitching. Imanaga did well in Chicago and he was a beloved character, but if the goal is winning and bringing home a championship, the Cubs need to pursue other rotation options.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-shota-imanaga-free-agent-2027/